Today I found a mix set of classical music videos on YouTube that contained several pieces I’ve already featured on my Classical Sunday posts.
Also on that list was a piece by Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828), the second movement (Andante con moto) from his Trio No. 2 in E-flat Major for Piano, Violin, and Violoncello. It’s not a piece I remembered by name, but as soon as I started the video, I recognized it as music that was prominent in the Stanley Kubrick period epic, Barry Lyndon (1975), with Marisa Berenson and Ryan O’Neal, and Tony Scott’s 1983 erotic horror film The Hunger, with Catherine Deneuve, Susan Sarandon and David Bowie (1947-2016).
Schubert completed the trio in 1827, and it was published shortly before his death the following year. I think the piece’s dramatic theme works well in both the mid-1700s setting of Barry Lyndon and the modern timeframe of The Hunger, adding much to the sombre moods and visual landscapes of each film.
Now you know a little about why this is my song of the day for today. Thanks for joining me here, and please enjoy.
Here’s the video for from the J. Hanck Production YouTube channel. It is a live performance in 2016 by members of Les Déconcertants, Paris, France: Julien Hanck, piano; Ambroise Aubrun, violin; and Maëlle Vilbert, cello, at Cathédrale Sainte-Croix des Arméniens, Paris.